Chase here again today as Mark is still recovering from surgery. I will be out here at the park providing coverage for both games as the Nats continue their interleague series with the Twins.

The Nats' lineup for the first game is, well, interesting. Jeff Kobernus is your center fielder and leadoff hitter with Denard Span out with a sore right foot. Fellow second baseman Steve Lombardozzi is slotted in left field and batting second. Chris Marrero is also up as the team's 26th player for the doubleheader, so you may see him today as well.

Fortunate for the Nats, considering their makeshift lineup, is the fact Jordan Zimmermann is on the mound. The right-hander will take his 8-3 record and 2.16 ERA up against a Twins lineup that is not exactly imposing.

I would Imagine that Rizzo/FO will making some big decisions on this team by June 30 (3 weeks away). With the trade deadline of July 31st that is when teams usually make their minds up about the chances of their team. A couple of examples:1. Rafael Soriano is a luxury on a team not going to the playoffs.2. Does anybody want Chad Tracy for a bag of balls.3. Would anybody be interested in the "shark" for prospects.Others on the team need to analysed for future value. Is it time to get some of the guys from Harrisburg up to see what they can do? Is Adam LaRoche needed on a team probably not going to the playoffs (too bad Matt Skole got hurt)?I am sure that these talks are now going on at the FO. This past week has pretty much insured that the Nats are not going to be playing in October.

Addendum,They need Rendon to get more work at 3B. Despite Ryan Zimmerman's 3 HR night at the little league park in Bmore he is stil not hitting with power. What is wrong? Has the shoulder slowed down his bat speed? Rendon is more of a natural 3B than a 2B. Also when is Rendon going to show if he has any HR power. Let Lombardozzi and Kobernus play 2B for awhile. RZim is still having problems with his throwing (damndest throwing motion I have ever seen), he is becoming a liability in the field without giving anything back at bat. Let Chris Marrero have some playing time. See if his power is beginng to pick up as he has gotten older.

Kobernus in…center. Huh. Shouldn't Davey want the optimum defensive alignment for the game the Nats really should win? Don't get it.As for trades…I don't imagine we'll see all that much selling off, no matter what happens. It would be different if the team were like the Phillies and all on an aging curve that near-guaranteed reduced production from most positions with players on long-term contracts. The only places that applies here are 1B and RF.Davey and Rizzo still seem pretty confident they've got the pieces, even if everyone not Zimm/ALR/Desi is hitting remarkably below career averages. In the games Harper has played, they've played at a 94-win pace. They've just played remarkably, unforseeably poorly without him.

"Also when is Rendon going to show if he has any HR power." The guy is a doubles machine. The demise of young players is when they try to be a HR hitter. Let him be what he is and so far so good. Unlucky BABIP at the end of the game on that line drive.

Joe Seamhead said…The radar looks pretty good for the first game. This evening's looks a little more ominous, which of course we have tix for.June 09, 2013 12:44 PM SonnyG10 said…Me too, Joe. If its rained out, wonder if they would play it tomorrow. Better take my rain gear.

From what the beat writers have said, the team/network does have to request an exemption to the blackout policy if they're airing at the same time as Sunday Night Baseball. But the Nats have gotten one, so the game should air tonight.

I checked MASN again and found their programming section. They are broadcasting the second game. The first game is on MASN2 and the second game is on MASN at 7. Good, I like to record the games I go to, to get a different look on the game.Good luck to us. Let's take two today. GYFNG!!!!

Hey folks…. Well that was a disappointing game yesterday… I was there and it felt good to be amongst fans, especially in this sub par start/third of the season…Anywho, this is an interesting line up…. Think I would have put Shark in CF and Kobernus in LF (sorry but Lombo is horrible in the OF). But DJ has Kobernus leading off…. Lord have mercy DJ….I didnt see DJ's press conference yesterday but I wish I did….Aight lets go Nats! We need to get on a serious winning streak… Make some folks go back under the rocks they crawled out of…

Yeaahhhh but Lombo in the OF is just wrong… Shark has gotten better at the plate, too….Shark should be in the OF instead of Lombo…. And Moore is better than Lombo in the Of, which isn't saying much…*broken record here*. But I hope we send T Moore down so he can play every day, as that is seriously what he needs….

Davey said yesterday he thought we weren't being aggressive enough at the plate. I rarely have a problem with swinging early because many times it's the best pitch of the AB to hit (I know this goes against conventional wisdom to see pitches). My problem is swinging at BAD first pitches. More guys need to foul off balls like Werth until they get something they can work with.

SCNats – see this is where my confusion comes in… Davey doesn't like small ball, from my understanding, so when we signed Span I was a little confused becuz he definitely isn't a power hitter…So it's interesting seeing D Span out there stealing bases, etc….It's kinda like the Nats have a sort of identity crisis one hand as they love the power but they have a few small ball guys….

See MrsB, I like that. I'm not sure I'd say it's an identity crisis. I like guys who (in theory) can steal along with big boppers. I think the diversity allows for you to do more than a team of all slap hitters or all home run guys.

I yell at Desi every time he swings at the first pitch… But most of the time, he does that —>>>. Gets a hit…. Nice…Yeah, David, I was fine with the Span signing… I was never a huge M Morse fan… Thought he was expendable even if we hasn't of resigned LaRoche….But I guess it goes back to the philosophy of the team….

Rendon keeps showing what a good hitter he is but getting bitten by the BABIP gods. Suzuki, on the other hand, desperately needs Ramos back to give him some off days. His plate approach is not sharp at all, swinging at garbage in the dirt. That pitch didn't even make it to the plate and he still swung. Not good at all.

Definitely ready for Ramos to come back…. Not becuz I don't like Zook, i love him, and hope he stays a Nat for a few more years but Zook has got to be tired… Liked the option of switching the Cs…. Kept them both fresh….

Mrs. B — exactly re Suzuki. He needs a real rest.For a pitcher who's pitching as well as JZimm is, that HP ump Conroy is barely giving him anything on the corner. That ball four really shouldn't have been.

Going back to that Zook at bat…. Shouldn't that check swing have been a foul, since it hit the ground?No, since it went from the bat to fair territory before anybody touched it. It can't be a strike if it bounces first.

jeffwx — No, on the replay it showed that Suzuki (I assume that's who you were referring to) actually hit the ball after it had bounced six inches in front of the plate. Then his "hit" went about the same six inches in front of the plate and was gobbled up by Doumit. Shows on the game summary as "grounds out softly, catcher Ryan Doumit to first baseman…".

Probably Davey sending him, not on his own, but as FP points out, a) he just got his first MLB hit, so he's a little nervous, and 2) he didn't find the ball when it was hit, to get back–again, probably nerves, and the green showing. That, and fly balls on hit-and-run usually have bad outcomes.

Look. We already have had two guys learning to play the outfield in the major leagues that never played it in the minors in Moore and Lombo. Now we start Kobernus, who has never played the outfield before this spring. I just don't understand the logic.We have two guys that are hitting good that are career outfielders in Brown and Perez.

The "Face of The Franchise" is getting extremely ugly. I say again, trade him now, before his no trade clause contract kicks in next season. Otherwise, we are stuck with another Werthless contract for many years.

David – the ball wasnt hit deep enough and Trent was waving him home while he was still at 2nd…. Trent just does not make good decisions….Lord, I miss Bo Porter….But what a play by the Twins SS… Helluva catch….

Werth was already around third when Thomas got the ball (albeit not deep), and a mediocre throw does not get him. You can't have it both ways–either they play it safe or they play with more intensity, and the lack of intensity has been remarkably lacking. Span and Davey have both remarked on it, among other people.

With a moderately fast runner it would've been a fine send. But Werth is just back from hamstring injury and the outfielder was shallow. The out was entirely predictable. Jewett doesn't exactly deserve the benefit of the doubt considering his consistent backfiring overaggressiveness.Thank you Twins defense, though.

Other players will not say it out loud but I'm sure it bothers them when Zim makes an error. Everybody including the pitcher is a bit more tense when you never know what's gonna happen when there's a ball hit to 3rd.

Joe Seamhead said…Sonny, I disagree that it wasn't a bad call to send Jayson. The ball was way too shallow., plus Werth's recent injury. That was just plumb dumb IMHO.June 09, 2013 2:50 PMWhatever floats your boat, Joe. Because of the lack of ability of the Nats to score runs and the fact that Zimmermann may only need 1 run, I still think it was worth a shot. At that time we might not have gotten another chance.

I feel like a broken record and I'm sorry too…. But Tyler needs to be sent down so he can play every day… He desperately needs it… PH'ing here and there in the bigs won't help him….David – that's why I think they bought him (Marerro) up… See what he does/looks like and then assess he and TyMo….

Jordan Zimmermann's WHIP drops to .89 which is 2nd in the Majors. ERA to 2.00 which is 6th in the Majors. Today he seemed to be going for K's and had a high of 8 today. He has gone at least 7 innings with 2 runs or fewer in 10 of his 13 starts in 2013.

The second go around next season for Rendon will be key after MLB teams have a good look at him. The major difference with Rendon over Espi is his smile, reminds me of Magic Johnson. He looks like he is having fun and is confident…that is infectious and a great thing to have in the clubhouse. He can hit too

Perhaps losing causes the [unreasonably] negative posts. Or something else causes them, and winning blocks them. But it's like squeezing a water balloon –they just go somewhere else.Which works for me.

I was on of the only person(s) who was happy with Morse going…. People made it seem like he was the key to the offense last year when that wasnt the case…. And his OF skills, were just bad…. Didnt like him at 1b too much either (was totally glad that we resigned Adam and it made sense to sign Span)Nothing personal against Mikey Mo as I liked him but I thought he was expendable…. And I'm not even going to touch his injury history….Was totally glad with the trade that Rizzo made and I think the Nats got the sweeter end of the deal…

Mrs B.. Check NatsLady and myself on the Mikey Mo commentary.. we were both on the ALR bandwagon the entire time.. Love Mikey's personality, but as you say, he was expendable. HOPEFULLY, Mikey gets healthy gets some playing time so he can get a nice contract at the end of this year

Sec. 3, My Sofa said… Clarification: I didn't say I liked that myself, I was just noting the youth possibilitiesSec 3 — I was thinking the same thing — except (in my mind) I had Rendon over at 3b giving RZim a spell (he's been in a bad slump since that 3-HR night — although he got a key double today), Lombo at 2b, Moore in LF, and Werth as the only experienced guy in RF.

I tell ya…. Tip the cap to Davey for this win as I was against this line up… Lol… All I was thinking was I get to see a ST game on TV…. And Kobernus leading off, well I'll be danged!But I really wonder what and how the Merrero call up will play out…. Does Tracy go bye-bye? Does Moore go down for a while?